


The Star in the Night Sky

by bilgegungoren00



Series: you are the best thing that's ever been mine [1]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/M, Humans AU, a bunch of AUs basically, a lot of fluff, and fluff, but yeah, i don't know where this came from, kingdom au, prince-servant AU, teacher-student (kind of) AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-03
Updated: 2018-02-25
Packaged: 2019-03-13 07:16:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13565559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bilgegungoren00/pseuds/bilgegungoren00
Summary: When Kara, a servant working under the Daxam royal family, discovers that her prince, Mon-El, is struggling with his school, she decides to lend a helping hand...in secret.





	1. Calculus

**Author's Note:**

> sooooo... i honestly don't know where this came from, but i've just saw The Greatest Showman (WHICH IS AN AMAZING MOVIE-SLASH-MUSICAL AND I'D REALLY RECOMMEND IT and there's also Zac Efron and Zendaya and Hugh Jackman so yeah just go watch it TRUST ME) and a small scene from that musical sparked a small idea, which then turned into a bigger idea, which then turned to this. btw, if you've watched that movie, you might be confused as to what this has to do with it, and...you're right. the part that actually resembles the movie is a bit later in the story ;)
> 
> anyway, without further ado, hope you like this!

Kara had just finished cleaning, tidied up her cleaning supplies, and was walking down the hall to her living quarters when she noticed the light coming from underneath a certain door. Normally, even after midnight that wouldn’t surprise her, if it was any door but the prince’s. The King and Queen of Daxam had thrown a ball that day, which didn’t end until about eleven p.m., which meant the servants had to work overtime all night. She only managed to sneak out because she’d also taken care of the preparations, and King Lar had been kind enough to let the preparation crew go.

Well, at least the pay was good. Good enough to pay for her expenses, send some money to her sister Alex, and have some spare cash for herself. It was almost worth the horrible work times. Besides, she didn’t have a choice, as her parents died in a house fire, as well as much of what they owned. She and Alex had to work to make ends meet.

Being a servant for the Daxam royal family wouldn’t be her top choice as work, but it worked, no pun intended. And as she worked mainly under the Prince, Mon-El, who was _much_ nicer than his parents, she didn’t even have it as bad as some others did. She was content…for now, until she could earn enough money for an education, and then get an actual job. She had finished high school, but a college education would definitely help her get a job with a good salary.

Talking about working under the Prince… Kara stopped in front of his door, frowning at the light. Everyone at the ball had witnessed her parents literally _sending_ him to his room when they found out he hadn’t finished his homework (she didn’t know that the guy even _had_ homework until witnessing that interaction). It had been five hours since then—it was close to two a.m. Mon-El should’ve already been done with his homework and gone to sleep. Even if he wasn’t, Kara had never seen him stay up later than one. This was…unusual for him.

She could just walk by without saying anything. Why would she care? Everything was probably fine. Mon-El was probably doing something very safe and very normal, and he might not enjoy the interruption. She should probably walk away, in fact.

Yet she found her feet leading her to the door with a worry gnawing at her stomach. _What if…_ she couldn’t help thinking. What if something was wrong? What if something had happened to Mon-El and she could’ve helped, but she didn’t because she walked away? It was better to be _sure,_ right?

She convinced herself of that as she quietly knocked on the door. “My prince?” she whispered. She was trying to be as quiet as possible, yet she couldn’t help wincing as her voice echoed in the hall. She waited a couple of seconds for an answer.

Nothing came.

She knocked again, thinking that maybe he didn’t hear her, but when there wasn’t an answer again she pushed the door open. She held her breath, hoping that Mon-El wasn’t awake and wouldn’t see her barging into his room. She didn’t think he would fire her, but that couldn’t be good for her job.

“My prince, your light is on—“ she whispered, her eyes traveling around the room. Her voice trailed off the moment she saw him. Mon-El. He was sitting at his desk—well, no, he was _lying down_ on his desk, his cheek resting on his crossed arms that distorted his face in a weird shape, and…was he drooling? She couldn’t help smiling at seeing _her prince_ at such a…a vulnerable position. It was as if he wasn’t a prince but a mere teenager. A teenager that fell asleep doing—Kara inched closer to the desk quietly to look at the papers at his side— _his calculus homework?_

She could barely hold back a giggle. If someone told her that one day, she’d see a prince fallen asleep next to his homework, she’d laugh her ass off, but…it seemed like even princes sometimes fell tired. Her curiosity got the better of her as she took the papers in her hand, looking at the due date.

Tomorrow. And…half of the pages weren’t done.

She couldn’t help grimacing as she remembered what Queen Rhea told his son about homework. _You useless bastard,_ the woman had hissed at her at the back corridor, where Kara was passing by with the empty champagne glasses just in time to hear the conversation. _You spend your whole day laying around, and then you expect to attend the ball without finishing your homework?_

Well, Kara wouldn’t call sitting in the garden and painting exactly _laying around,_ but whatever. Anyhow, she still heard the argument, she saw the defeated look on Mon-El’s face, and weirdly that was something she never wanted to see again. Mon-El was too nice to deserve something like that. And what if he didn’t want to do his homework? What if he wasn’t good at calculus—and it didn’t seem like he was, since he’d gotten three of the first five questions in his homework wrong—and he preferred painting? She’d seen some of his paintings, as she was usually the one preparing and tidying up his painting supplies, and they were _incredible._ Maybe if Queen Rhea spent a little bit of time actually paying attention to her son’s interests instead of just ruling Daxam and protecting her reputation, she would see that, too.

Yes, Kara was bitter. But could you blame her?

She wished she could’ve done something to change this. Anything. But what could she do anyway? She sighed, accepting defeat as she put Mon-El’s homework back to its place. She was just a servant. She doubt anything she did could change something—

She stopped midway to the door and spun around. _Wait._ Maybe her words or beliefs wouldn’t be able to change anything, but her actions might. Even the littlest things could help Mon-El. Like… Like doing his homework. She still remembered calculus, as it had been one of her favorite subjects in high school. And she also had to admit that she was studying whenever she found the time in order not to forget what she’d learned once she finally started college. She could do his homework for him, at least preventing him from getting scolded again. It wouldn’t even take too much time, and it could be fun. And…she would also be helping someone, someone who’d been oppressed for too long, someone who deserved better. Hadn’t she always wanted to help someone? Wasn’t that why she wanted to go to college in the first place? She could actually do it with Mon-El. In little ways, sure, but even giving him a little bit of peace from her mother’s accusations would be enough. At least for now.

Before she could change her mind, she made her way back to his desk and grabbed his homework, as well as a pencil, eraser, and his calculator, which admittedly looked like it came from the future.

By the time she put the homework back into its place, the clock had hit 3 a.m., yet she didn’t even feel tired. She felt proud and happy; she was even smiling as she looked at her effort. The homework was completed to perfection, as she’d checked each question twice. She even made her handwriting look similar to Mon-El’s to keep the suspicions at minimal. She’d actually done it.

She felt a rush of adrenaline as she looked at Mon-El, feeling the sudden urge to push his hair away from his face. Yet she refrained from it; that might’ve been pushing it too far. Instead, she retreated to the door.

“Good night, my prince… Mon-El,” she whispered before leaving.

* * *

When Mon-El woke up the next day, tired from staying up too late and anxious about not finishing his homework—he remembered vaguely that he couldn’t complete it before falling asleep—he was surprised to find the calculus papers, all completed, next to where he had been sleeping on the desk. Yet he just wrote it off as his sleeplessness getting to his head and smiled. Well, maybe he wasn’t as horrible a student, or a prince, as his mother made him sound like.

What was more surprising, though, was when he went to class and discovered that all his answers were correct. _All of them._ He’d never gotten _all the questions_ right in calculus. Though he didn’t know whether it was him or his teacher that was surprised the most by it. Yet when his teacher returned his homework, marked with an A+ on the top, he couldn’t help leaning back in his seat and smiling.

It was the first moment in a long time that the Prince of Daxam felt truly happy.


	2. History

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you like this ;)

The same thing happened to Mon-El in the following days as well. He’d leave his homework undone, or he couldn’t finish it before sleeping, yet he’d found them all completed the next day when he woke up. And completed to perfection, too.

First, it was his history homework. He didn’t _hate_ history as much as calculus or any of the sciences, as he usually could ramble his way through it, yet that didn’t mean he wanted to do his homework. He’d tried; at night, he’d tried, staying up until about one, but then he was so tired that he just went to sleep. _Screw it. I’m not putting myself through that torture._ He knew why it was important to learn this stuff, but he just didn’t understand why he had to do all this homework _every single day._

He was pleasantly surprised to find his homework done the next day. _I must’ve just done it and then forgotten about it,_ he thought. And, well, when a good thing happened to you, you didn’t question it much, right? Especially when he heard from his teacher that his comments were on point, and if he kept improving this way he could become an amazing prince. He didn’t know what a history homework had to do with being a prince, but…whatever.

He could’ve written the first two times off as just his mind blanking out, but what happened the third day, he definitely couldn’t blame that. He _very clearly_ remembered not doing his biology and physics homework. He’d just looked at the first question, something about chromosomes, and he’d given up. He’d just thrown the papers onto his desk and went to sleep.

This time, he was _shocked_ to find his homework done, and it wasn’t a pleasant kind of shock. Sure, it was good that he didn’t get scolded, it was good that he apparently got almost all the questions right and for _once_ his biology teacher praised him, but it wasn’t _him._ He hadn’t done his homework, and even if he did, he couldn’t have gotten all those questions right anyway. There were times even _he_ blinked at his answers, thinking inside that he didn’t even know what some of the words meant.

That could only mean one thing. Someone else was doing his homework.

To be sure, the next day he’d left all of his homework on his table before going to sleep. If he woke up to it being done _again,_ then he’d know this wasn’t his mind playing games with him and there was someone doing his homework. He didn’t know which one he’d prefer it to be.

And sure enough, when he woke up, his homework papers, while they looked as messy as the previous night, were completed. He smiled triumphantly. He’d been right.

“It seems like I do have a guardian angel.”

* * *

It was two a.m. when Kara snuck into Mon-El’s room. She didn’t exactly know when it became a habit for her to check whether his homework was completed or not, and do it if it wasn’t, but lately, she couldn’t go to her room without checking on Mon-El first. She didn’t know for how long she could keep this up without getting caught, she didn’t know what Mon-El would do when he caught her, but she _finally_ felt like she was doing something _useful,_ and she wasn’t ready to give it up.

Besides, she was helping Mon-El, right? He wouldn’t fire her or anything?

She went to his desk without losing any time, looking at the papers scattered on it. It seemed like he had history and…calculus today. She grimaced at the history part. She might not be _that_ bad at it, but that didn’t mean she _liked_ it either. Calculus, though… Calculus was good. Calculus she could do…first, at least. She could bother with history then.

She’d just gathered the papers together and was ready to turn on the desk lamp that the lights of the room turned on. She jumped, looking up from her spot, only to find…

Mon-El, standing next to his door, his hand hovering over the light switch. With her rush, she hadn’t even realized that he wasn’t in his bed. And now…that was going to bite her in the back.

She froze for a couple of seconds in silence, until she forced herself to talk. “I can explain,” she could only say. Her heart was thundering in her chest as she realized how this looked. Realized that…Mon-El could think that she was stealing from him or something. And if he thought that…

“Kara—“ he started, but she cut in before he could say anything.”

“I wasn’t stealing anything, I promise. I would never… I wouldn’t try to… My prince… I was just…” Running out of words or explanations, she had to lean to Mon-El’s desk to steady herself. Her vision had started to blur at the edges and she felt dizzy and faint and she was afraid she could collapse on the floor any time and it probably wouldn’t do her any good at this point—

“You were the one doing my homework,” Mon-El said, stepping forward and taking her out of her thoughts. She bit the inside of her cheek and nodded, preparing herself for a scolding at best, firing at worst.

“I just… I just wanted to help you. Please don’t fire me, my prince. I need this job. I don’t have anything else—“

“You _saved my life.”_

 _What?_ Kara froze with his words. Out of all the things she imagined him saying if he found out, _that_ wasn’t one of them.

“Firing you? Kara… Your name is Kara, right?” She didn’t even have it in her to be impressed that he remembered her name. She could only nod slightly as an answer, watching Mon-El step forward. He offered her a small smile. “For the first time in my life, I got an A on my calculus homework. For the first time, my history teacher praised my analysis and told me I’d make a great prince. For the first time _in my life,_ my mother complimented me, saying that maybe I wasn’t as much of a lost cause as she thought. Which is a compliment coming for her. Kara, you…you changed _everything._ You saved me. How could I _fire_ you?”

Well, when he put it like that…

“I thought… I thought you might think I was stealing…or invading your privacy…”

“Well, I’d much rather have you invade my privacy than constantly get bad grades. And you…you’ve been doing _this_ for free.” He just seemed to realize that as he looked at his homework papers. “Just how _late_ you’ve been staying up for this?”

“It’s not a problem,” Kara tried to explain. And it really wasn’t. She wasn’t tired or exasperated or anything. “I like…doing that. It makes me feel useful, and…and it’s good practice, you know? For…for college.”

“You’re planning to go to college?” Mon-El asked. She just shrugged.

“When I save enough money.” She could see the thoughtful expression on his face at that. “Um, my prince?” He lifted his head to look at her.

“I’ll make you a deal,” he said, no hesitation in his voice. She arched his brows. “Help me with my homework. Teach me…teach me these damn stuff that you’re apparently way better at than me. My teachers are…horrible and we’re obviously getting nowhere with any of our lessons, so maybe… Maybe with your help, I won’t be such a disappointment to my mother.”

 _You’re not a disappointment,_ Kara wanted to say, but she didn’t have the chance before he continued. “Two hours daily. I’ll… I’ll cut it from your employment hours, so you won’t have to work overtime, and I’ll… I’ll give you three times what you get daily for each hour.” _Three times?_ But that was too much— “I have enough money and much more for that, trust me. That way you’ll be able to work your way to college more easily. Right?”

Kara had to admit that he was right, indeed. Yet she was almost speechless, watching his hopeful face as he stepped forward. He held her arm lightly. “Please, Kara. I need this. Please don’t say no.”

And how could she refuse his offer anyway? It’d be stupid not to accept all the money he was offering, but most of all… She’d started doing this homework thing to help him. What better way to do it than actually teaching him this stuff, right?

“I’ll do it,” she said, offering him a small smile. “I’ll help you.”

The grin that spread on his face was the happiest grin she’d seen on his face.


	3. Psychology

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you like this chapter! :)

“So you see, brain is compartmentalized in a way that different parts of it have different functions.” Kara pointed at the brain diagram on Mon-El’s textbook, to the region in the front that the book colored blue. “This is the frontal lobe, which is basically responsible for our cognitive processes, such as emotional expression and problem-solving. And the prefrontal cortex right at the front is basically—Mon-El, are you even _listening_ to me?” She looked up from the book only to realize that he had been playing with his pen, drawing some kind of a girl figure on his notebook. He looked up only when she called him out.

“Hm?” She bit back a frustrated sigh. This had been the third time _that day_ that she caught him not listening to her, and it had only been about an hour since they started studying.

“Were you listening to what I was saying, or do you not care at all?” she asked bitterly, straightening up and arching her brow. Mon-El opened his mouth to say yes, but she was faster. “Tell me what the function of the frontal lobe is.”

“Um…frontal lobe?” He stared at her blankly, as if he didn’t even _know_ what frontal lobe was, that she couldn’t help laughing.

“I can’t believe you,” she exclaimed, throwing her pen on the table. It seemed like she had no use for it anyway. She’d been staying quiet about all of Mon-El’s shenanigans for too long now. She’d said nothing when she caught him distracting himself from her lessons, not listening to her, not even paying _attention,_ but it was enough. Prince or not, she was his _tutor,_ a tutor that he personally asked for no less; he could at least _respect_ her. “You were the one that wanted me to help you with your classes, but you don’t even _listen_ to me when I actually try to teach you something.”

“I do listen!” he tried to say, but her glare stopped him. “Fine,” he had to admit finally, throwing his hands into the air. “Maybe I don’t listen. But I just… I just don’t understand why we have to learn all these stuff. How is it gonna help me to know what frontal…whatever does? It isn’t like I’m gonna need to know the specifics of the brain to rule a kingdom.” He pushed the book away with a grimace, as if it was the most disgusting thing in the world. Kara was so close to face-palm that only her steel-will kept her from burying her face in her hands.

“You don’t learn these stuff to memorize them, Mon-El,” she tried explaining quietly. “You learn them to develop a good perspective on life. To increase your understanding, to learn to think outside the box, to look for different solutions to your problems, and yes, properly ruling a country by making the right decisions. You learn how to _think._ ”

“By memorizing what frontal lobe does?”

“No, by learning how to connect it to something else.” She flipped the pages of the book to the practice questions part and pointed at one that she wanted to ask him at the end anyway. “Like this question. It doesn’t directly ask you the function of the frontal lobe. Instead, it tells a story about a woman that had an accident and had brain damage, and as a result her personality and behaviors changed. It asks you what part of her brain must be damaged, and why. It makes you think, it makes you connect seemingly unrelated dots, and it makes you draw conclusions. Which are all the skills you’ll need to become a good prince.” She arched her brow at him, almost challenging him to object. He was leaning back in his chair, his arms crossed over his chest and a frown on his face. He shook his head.

“That’s literally just one question. It doesn’t change anything.”

This time, a frustrated sigh did escape Kara’s lips. She pushed herself up to her feet in frustration. “You are literally insufferable,” she exclaimed, trying to gather her stuff up with shaky fingers. “First, you complain about getting bad grades and ask me to help you. And when I try to do that, you don’t even _care!”_

“What are you doing?” Mon-El asked—she couldn’t help noticing that his voice was tinged with fear as he looked at her—when he saw that she was gathering her things. She stared at him right in the eye.

“Leaving! I’m obviously no help to anyone here, and I have better things to do than waste my time with someone who doesn’t even care.” In hindsight, that might not have been the right thing to say to her prince, but she was too angry to think that. She spun around, ready to leave the room, when his voice interrupted her.

“Do you think that I’m not trying, Kara?” She stopped, closing her eyes to take a deep breath.

“Yes,” she answered a second later, turning around. “Yes, I do think that, actually.”

“Yeah, well, you’re wrong. I _do._ I try to learn all this stuff, but there’s too much, and I’m obviously not good at it. I’m not a natural like you. So I’m sorry I’m not the perfect student you hoped for, but the fact that I can’t do this doesn’t mean I’m a lost cause.” His cheeks had reddened with anger, and that might’ve pissed Kara off even more, but now that the veil of her own anger had lifted she managed to see the truth behind his eyes. She managed to see the _fear._ He didn’t not listen to her because he didn’t care. He was just… He was too afraid to fail. When he didn’t study, when he didn’t try, failing was okay. He could say that he at least didn’t try. But if he actually studied, if he tried _and_ failed, it would make him feel like he wasn’t enough. It would make him think that he was nothing but a disappointment, just as his mother said he was.

“No, Mon-El,” she said softly, shaking her head. “That’s just an excuse you tell yourself so that you don’t risk failing. You’re afraid that you’ll fail even if you study, proving to yourself that you’re a disappointment just like your mother said. Not studying gives you an excuse to escape from that.” She stepped forward to grab the psychology textbook from the table and tuck it into his hands. He was too shocked with her words that he didn’t even object. “But you can’t know if you’ll succeed or not if you never try. And I believe you can do it if you try. You just need to believe yourself, too, instead of convincing yourself you can’t do it and there’s no point in trying.” She searched his eyes to make sure she got through to him. She smiled when she saw the thoughtful expression on his face. “And if you ever decide that you want to study, you know where my room is.”

With that she turned around and left, leaving a confused and scared Mon-El behind.

* * *

Kara had just gotten out of the shower and was blow-drying her hair when she heard someone knocking on her door. For a moment she thought she must’ve heard it wrong; there was no one that would come to her room at midnight, and she _was_ drying her hair so she might’ve just imagined the sound. But when she turned off the blow dryer and looked at the door, she heard the knock again.

Huh. So she hadn’t imagined it.

Frowning, she stood up and moved to the door. She’d imagined a lot of people being there, but the one person she didn’t expect was _Mon-El._

Well, at least not mere hours after their argument. She’d hoped he’d come, she’d hoped he’d truly want to study, but she’d imagined it’d take him at least a day or so. Not _right away._

“Mon-El?” she asked with surprise, even as she stepped away from the door to let him in. He didn’t beat around the bush before jumping into the topic.

“The brain is separated into four lobes,” he started as he walked in, his eyes focused and his voice confident. There wasn’t even an _ounce_ of hesitation in his voice as he cited the topic she’d tried to teach him just that afternoon. “The frontal lobe is in the front, and it’s the part of the brain that is responsible for higher cognitive skills, essentially controlling our personality. It is separated into prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for complex cognitive behaviors like decisionmaking, and the back part is motor cortex that is involved in planning, control, and voluntary movements.” He only stopped to take a deep breath, continuing to cite the information, jumping from parietal lobe to occipital lobe, even naming important areas such as Broca’s area. And not once did he stop while saying any of that. He hadn’t memorized it—at least, it didn’t seem like he did—yet he remembered the information so clearly that he didn’t need to stop and think. He _learned_ it.

He only stopped when he finished everything, pressing his lips together and searching her face. She… Honestly, she couldn’t do anything but staring at him with wide eyes, filled with awe and shock. He must’ve realized that as well because he continued before she could say anything. “You were right,” he whispered. He seemed to be struggling with those words—she doubted that he was used to being in the wrong as a prince—yet he still forced them out, his face completely open and genuine. “I didn’t ignore my classes and your lessons because I didn’t like them. I just… I’d never been good at all these math or science or history stuff, and I was afraid that I’d fail even if I studied. And that…that would only prove what everyone already believed. That I’m just a lost cause.”

“You’re not a lost cause,” Kara managed to say, finally snapping away from her stupor with his self-deprecating comment. Not being good at any of that stuff didn’t make someone a lost cause; life wasn’t just about science or math. Even if one wasn’t good at those, they could be good at something else, like Mon-El, who could paint like no one else. His paintings were always beautiful and impeccable, and _that_ alone showed just how bright he was. Maybe not intelligent in the traditional sense, but intelligent nonetheless.

Yet Mon-El just smiled sadly at her. “I think I’ve just been proving over and over again that I am. If I wasn’t, I would’ve actually studied—“

“No, that’s not what I meant,” Kara interrupted, realizing he’d gotten her wrong. He thought she meant he _could_ be good in school if he studied, but that couldn’t be farther away from the truth. “I mean, being bad at math or science or whatever doesn’t make you a lost cause. If you’re not good at them, so what? You’re good at other things. I mean, look at your paintings.” He shrugged.

“They’re not _that_ good—“

“They’re _incredible,_ Mon-El,” she corrected him, softly putting a hand on his arm to pull his attention to her. He didn’t seem like he believed her words, so she continued. “You have such a good eye for your surroundings, and you reflect them in a way that I’ve never seen anyone do. You show them in their brutal reality, but without demeaning them; instead, you find the sliver of light in every darkness and show that. Your paintings are filled with _hope_ , and that’s not something a math equation or a science problem can give anyone.” She offered him a small smile, and a part of her delighted in watching his shocked expression. He could be just so _innocent_ sometimes, in a way that made something flutter in her chest. She didn’t dare think what that might be.

“I didn’t know you paid that much attention to my paintings,” he mumbled as if he was out of breath, as if he didn’t even _know_ how to breathe. Kara just shrugged.

“Well, I’m always the one to tidy up your painting supplies. I do get to see them all.” She felt proud when his eyes lit up and finally a smile pulled his lips, too.

“I wish that could count in my mother’s eyes, too,” he muttered, tucking his hands in his pockets. “For her, the only thing that matters is that I’m successful. I don’t even think that she knows I paint.”

Well, that was one nice parenting right there. Kara tried not to grimace at that; instead, she stepped forward and fixed Mon-El’s shirt that seemed a bit wrinkled on the top.

“Well, she is _wrong_. But if we can’t convince her of that, we can certainly show that you can be successful when you want to. But you need to want it, and work for it.” She shot him a harsh glare. “I’m not tutoring you again if you won’t listen to me.” He chuckled lightly, but he still nodded.

“I will listen to you.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.” And there was something in his eyes, a determination that she’d never seen before, that made her believe that he was telling the truth this time. She grinned at him widely, a flicker of pride in her heart.

“We’ll start tomorrow.”


	4. Art

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the late update! the school had been hectic in the last two weeks, and i have a couple of quizzes and exams coming up, so i just couldn't finish this chapter! but i hope you like it :)
> 
> p.s. i know i couldn't respond to many of them, but thanks for your comments as well! ya'll are amazing :)

“Where are we going?”

“Shh. It’s a surprise, Kara.”

“Have I ever mentioned that I hate surprises? I think I’ve mentioned that at some point in our lessons—“

_“Kara.”_

“What? I’m just saying. What was so important that you had to blindfold me?”

“You’ll see in a second. And be quiet. I don’t want anyone seeing us together—Hey! No peaking.” Before Kara could take off the blindfold, Mon-El swatted her hand away and pulled it down. She sent him a glare, knowing he couldn’t see it, yet even the gesture made her feel a bit better.

“I’m just curious!” she said, giving up on sneaking a peak and instead letting him lead her. They made a right, and then a left, before Mon-El warned her about stairs. “And besides,” she continued, holding onto the railing and his arm to not fall, “don’t your exams start tomorrow? I don’t know if we have time for these surprises.”

“One, I studied enough for my exams in the last couple of days. You don’t have to worry about that.” Kara grunted at that, which only made him chuckle. “Two, there’s always time for surprises. It’s what makes life fun, right?”

“I’d argue with _that,”_ she muttered, not that he cared. He just continued.

“And three, you don’t have to be so negative about this whole thing, you know. I told you that you would like it. Don’t you trust me?” He sounded so sad that Kara couldn’t help sighing, trying to relax her tense shoulders.

“I do. I just…never had a good surprise, you know.” _The last big surprise I had was to hear that my house went up on fire when I was in school._ She didn’t say the words, but she knew Mon-El must’ve understood, because he squeezed her hand supportively. He knew the situation a little bit, yet that was enough to know just how horrible it had been for Kara.

“Well, Miss Danvers, I’m about to change that,” he said cheerily as he led her down a corridor, and finally she heard some keys jingling in his hands. In a couple of seconds, he opened the door and led her into the room.

“You can take off the blindfold now,” he said softly. Kara quickly tore it away from her face, blinked to adjust her eyes to the light, and then…and then she froze. She couldn’t even move as Mon-El stepped next to her. “Ta da.”

She was speechless. She must’ve stepped forward, as it seemed like she was in the middle of the room, yet she didn’t even feel her movements. Her heart was beating so fast that she felt like she was having some sort of out-of-body experience or something. She could barely breathe, barely think, trying to process everything she was seeing…

It was her. Not _her_ her, physically, like a doppelganger—though at this point, that might’ve surprised her less—but it was her…paintings. Drawings. Sketches. They weren’t organized, like you might see in an art gallery, but instead were haphazardly thrown together, and somehow that made it all the more endearing. There were torn notebook papers stuck on the walls, containing her black-and-white sketches. There were small papers with colored drawings on them. There were one or two small canvases with more professional paintings that must’ve taken him at least some time. But what caught her eye the most was the painting in the middle.

It was so huge that it stood taller than her. It was her painting, just like everything else in the room, but it was…it was also something else. All the other paintings or drawings were realistic. They were just copies of something that was real. Granted, they were still really beautiful, but it almost seemed like they were trials—like Mon-El did them while trying to find his way to the perfect idea. He didn’t add much of himself to them. But this one… It was so beautiful that she was almost afraid to touch it. A portrait of her…and not. It showed her looking up at the sky, at what seemed like a blue and black butterfly, yet describing it as just that would be the understatement of the year. Her blue eyes were shining brightly in a way that you could see the smile in them, with her lashes framing them perfectly and naturally. It looked like she had makeup on and not at the same time, and it was all the better for it. Her lips, underneath the couple strands of her hair, were a soft pink color, and their corners were curled into a soft smile. She looked amused, intelligent, kind, and…and happy. She looked utterly, unconditionally, happy. And her hair… God, she didn’t even have the words to describe it. It didn’t look put-together, per se. The curls were thrown over her shoulder in a way they overlapped each other, yet the mixture of brown and blonde made it seem like it was liquid gold. On her head, she was also wearing a flower crown, making her look like an angel. But not one with eternal beauty. One that was just beautiful inside, the way that she was. She looked…perfect. Heavenly, almost.

_This_ was how Mon-El saw her?

She must’ve stayed quiet for so long that Mon-El walked to her side in a couple of seconds. “You told me that I saw the light in everything I painted,” he whispered, as if he was too emotional to speak louder. “I’ve had a lot of people praise my paintings when they saw them around the castle. I’ve heard them say all kinds of things. But none of those compliments felt as real and personal as yours.”

“Mon-El…” she whispered, her voice hoarse with unshed tears. She would’ve looked at him, but she couldn’t take her eyes off of the painting.

“I just wanted show you how much that meant to me. How much…you mean to me. Because Kara…you’re the light in my life.” This time, her eyes snapped at him without her intention.

“What?” The question was quiet, almost too quiet. _That can’t be true,_ a part of her was thinking. She, the _light_ of Mon-El’s life? A prince, who could have everything with a snap of his fingers? She was just…just his servant and his tutor, and deep down in her heart, she hoped that they were also friends. But that was all that she could offer him. How could she compare to all those princesses with their expensive gowns and glittery jewelry? How could she compare to all his friends who were rich enough to have their own private guards? How could she compare to his life, in all its extravaganza and richness? She wasn’t a part of that life, and she’d never even hope to be.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Mon-El whispered, seeing right through her. “That you can never match up to my life or everything I have, but you’re wrong. You give me something that no amount of money can buy.” He offered her a small smile. “True and unconditional friendship.”

She felt her heart stutter with the genuineness of those words, especially as he frowned and bowed his head. “Being the prince,” he continued, obviously struggling with his words, “has its downsides, too, you know. I can never know whether someone shows me affection because I’m truly me or because I’m the ‘Prince’ and I have money. But with you… I know it isn’t about money.”

“You pay me to tutor you—“ Kara tried to say, but he quickly dismissed her with a shake of his head.

“You don’t tutor me because I pay you. You’d have done it even if you got nothing in return.” Well, she couldn’t argue with _that._ Money was important to her, but what was more important was Mon-El and his success. She’d have been happy enough if her tutoring helped him, and it would’ve been enough for her. “And I know that, because you never tried to suck up to me. You never backed down on your beliefs or compromised yourself to make me happy. You stood by them and challenged me. You forced me to be the best version of myself, because you knew that was how I’d be happy.” He stopped for a second, searching her eyes. “You’ve made me happier than I could’ve imagined.”

Kara had to blink several times to get rid of her tears and finally managed to smile at him. His words… It tugged at her heart, making her realize that while money and material possessions were important, there was more to life than those. There was caring, friendship, love… There was true happiness, coming from having someone that cared about you.

“You’ve made me happy, too,” she admitted with a soft shrug. “And I don’t just mean all the pay you’d been giving me for our lessons.” He chuckled and nodded.

“That’s good, because… I want you to have this.” He gestured at the painting in front of Kara. She arched her brow as her heart skipped a beat. He was giving her the _painting_ , which was basically a masterpiece and belonged to an art gallery, not a bedroom? “Happy birthday, Kara.”

Her eyes snapped at him with that. “What?”

“It’s your… It’s your birthday, right?” he asked almost nervously. “23rd of April?”

“Yeah, but… How do you know that?” She was _pretty sure_ she’d never told him that. He just shrugged with a smile.

“I looked at your employee files. I wanted to do something special for you, to thank you for everything you’ve done for me. And when you said you liked my paintings… I mean, I hope it’s okay…”

“It is,” she jumped in when she realized how nervous it was. “It is…beautiful, Mon-El. But I can’t take it.” Mon-El frowned. “I mean, it belongs to an art gallery or something. The walls of the castle. Whatever. Not… Not my room.” His face softened with those words.

“Kara, I didn’t paint this for everyone to see,” he argued. “I painted this for you. I want you to have it. And besides, am I not the artist? Technically, I can do everything I can with my paintings.”

“That’s… That’s true,” she had to agree. Stepping forward, she touched the sides of the painting for the first time, a part of her still worried that even a small touch would destroy it. “Gosh, Mon-El, I don’t even know how to thank you.”

“You don’t have to,” he shook his head immediately. “This is… This is not a gift, Kara. It’s a thank you for everything you’ve done for me. It’s thanks to you that I’m even succeeding in school at this point, and it’s thanks to you that I’m not worried about the exams tomorrow. You deserve this.” She offered him a tearful smile.

“It was my pleasure,” she whispered over the knot in her throat. She didn’t know what else to say, what else she _could_ say as an answer to his words. She just looked at him, at the soft look on his face, at the happiness shining in his eyes, and she realized… For the first time in the last couple of years, she felt happy. Truly happy, the kind that lasted, the kind you never wanted to end. And it was all thanks to Mon-El, whom she never saw herself being friends with, but who ended up becoming one of the closest people to her quickly. A friend…that was maybe more than a friend.

The realization hit her only then.

“I’ll just… I’ll frame this for you and, um, send it to your room.” She could only nod at Mon-El’s words, trying to process what she just realized, especially over her thundering heart and boiling blood. It was so, _so_ stupid. Tutoring Mon-El? Sure. Being friends with him? Unlikely, but still possible. But…but this?

Yet as he led her out of the room, chatting about his classes and lessons, everything and nothing, her realization only solidified, so much so that she couldn’t deny it.

She was absolutely and irrevocably in love with Mon-El.


	5. Chemistry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello hello, y'all!
> 
> sorry this take me too long to post, but it's been a crazy week at school and i'd JUST been able to finish this chapter. but i hope you like this! and this is just a p.s. here, but i'm thinking of writing a sequel to this, i already have the idea and the chapters outlined, soooooo if you liked this story, stay tuned...i guess? lol :)
> 
> love ya!

Kara slowly knocked on Mon-El’s door before pushing it open to peek inside. “Mon-El?” she called for him. No answer. _Weird,_ Kara thought, frowning. She walked inside, closing the door behind her.

And…nope. He really was nowhere to be found. She couldn’t help rolling her eyes. Great for him to ask her to come to his room when he wasn’t even there.

She was just about to leave the room, to find Mon-El later and remind him that it wasn’t particularly smart for him to call people somewhere if he wasn’t going to be in that place, when she noticed a pile of papers on his desk. And the top one said…

_History Exam._

Her curiosity piqued at that. He’d had his final exams last week, and they must’ve apparently been graded. A part of her knew that it would kind of be invading his privacy to look at the grades without Mon-El, especially if he didn’t want her to see them. But her curiosity got the better of her, and in a second, she found herself walking to his desk. Besides, wasn’t she his tutor? She had the right to see his grades, didn’t she?

She closed her eyes in anticipation as she took the first paper. She was sure that Mon-El would get good grades—he’s studied so hard for the exams. But it was always stressful to find out how you actually did. And she hoped, for his sake, that he got the grades he wanted, to prove to his mother—and more importantly, himself—that he wasn’t as uncaring or stupid as everyone thought.

She opened one eye slowly to look at the history exam grade. _B+._

Her eyes flew open. “B-plus?” she couldn’t help muttering. That was… That was _incredible._ Especially for _history._ Even she, when she went to high school, barely got an A from history. But Mon-El… He’d done it. He’d actually done it.

A smile pulled his lips as she, this time more confidently, looked at the other grades. Calculus, B+. Psychology, A-. Biology, B. Physics, B+. Chemistry… _A+._

A+!

He’d gotten an A+ from _chemistry!_

Kara covered her mouth as a laugh bubbled out of her mouth. She never thought it’d be so satisfying, so _happy_ to see him succeed, but it felt almost better than when _she_ got a good grade. She guessed what everyone said was right: You felt the happiest when you helped someone else.

She turned around with the exam papers in her hands when she heard the door’s room being opened. Mon-El walked in, closed the door behind him, and looked up.

The moment their eyes met, Kara’s smile widened. She dropped the papers on the desk, rushed to him, and literally _jumped_ into his arms. Despite getting caught off guard by her excitement, he managed to catch her right on time and twirled her around.

“You did it!” she couldn’t help yelling. A soft chuckle escaped his lips.

“Yes,” he whispered, pushing back to look at her face, grinning. “Yes, I did.” He put his hands on her waist and squeezed, as if he needed her close and he needed to feel it.

_Close._ They were standing so, _so_ close to each other, enough that if Kara reached up just a little bit…she could very well _kiss_ him. She felt dizzy at the realization, as it was the first time she got _this close_ to Mon-El. She hadn’t even _hugged_ him before, and the closest they’d gotten to touching was brief brushes of each other’s hands on their arms. That was it. And now, she’d _flung_ herself on him as if it was nothing, as if they were mere friends, as if…as if she wasn’t a servant working _for him_.

She quickly stepped back, feeling the heat rushing to her cheeks. Her servant instincts had taken over any friendship she felt to Mon-El as fear filled her lungs. She fixed her stare to a spot on the floor. “I’m—I’m sorry, Mon-El—my prince,” she tried to say, stumbling over her words. “I shouldn’t have—“

“Hey,” Mon-El stopped her. He stepped forward to close the distance between them, and softly cupped her cheeks to guide her eyes up. Even through that small gesture, he was trying to tell her that she wasn’t his servant and he wasn’t her prince anymore. They were friends, and friends could easily look each other in the eye, touch, or hug without worrying about anything. His next words just proved that in Kara’s mind. “You never have to call me ‘my prince’ again. I’m not a prince to you anymore, Kara.”

She couldn’t even nod as she stared at him, trying to control her thundering heart. She saw his eyes briefly flicker to her lips, yet on the contrary to all those times when she caught him looking at her lips, this time, his gaze stayed there. And she also felt, more than saw, him leaning close, closer…

She pushed away any logical thought as she closed the distance between them and pressed her lips on his.

She had to be honest, she’d imagined how it would feel to kiss Mon-El more times than she’d like to admit. She’d dreamt about it, too. Yet the real thing… It trumped every scenario and feeling she could’ve thought about. It felt like fire was literally buzzing through her veins as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. But it wasn’t a fire that burned you. Just the opposite. She felt alive, like how one felt alive when they were freefalling. Well, not freefalling, really. More like falling with a parachute on your back, because she knew, somehow, that Mon-El would be there to catch her no matter what happened. His hands, which were now moving on her back, were both soft and reassuring, and he was holding her in his arms like he never wanted to let go. Like this was his happy place. _You never have to call me “my prince” again,_ he’d said. Did that mean they were just close friends, or was he trying to say that…that he wanted to be more?

Well, the way he was kissing her would indicate the latter, but…

They only parted when Kara felt like she couldn’t breathe and she needed air. She opened her eyes slowly, a part of her still afraid of his reaction. Yet all she found was him, smiling at her in a way that reached his eyes. He moved his hand up her arm and stroked her cheek lightly.

“You have no idea for how long I wanted to do that.” Kara laughed with relief.

“I think I might have a little bit of idea.” She leaned forward to kiss him again, trying to keep herself from grinning so that she wouldn’t break the kiss. She couldn’t have imagined this happening in her wildest dreams, but now that it actually was… She never wanted it to end.

Yet this time, Mon-El pulled back a bit more quickly. “Kara,” he whispered. She heard the concern in his voice, and that was enough for her to pull herself away from the rush of emotions to pay attention to him. “This will be dangerous.” Her heart stopped.

“What?” she asked, even though she was pretty sure what Mon-El was talking about.

“Our relationship. It’d… It’d already been dangerous when you were tutoring me, but if we…if we’re dating… I don’t know what my mother would do if she finds out.”

“I’m willing to take that risk.” Kara didn’t even hesitate making that decision. If it meant being with Mon-El, she’d take any risk.

“But Kara—“

“Mon-El, I’m willing to do it. I _want_ to do it.”

“We’ll have to hide, and it’ll never be a normal relationship—“

“If I wanted normal, I wouldn’t be friends with a prince in the first place. I definitely wouldn’t have kissed him, either.” That earned a light chuckle from him, a chuckle that made pride flicker in Kara’s chest at making him laugh. “What I mean is, I don’t want normal. I want to be with you. Even if it’s batshit crazy.”

“That’s—That’s good,” Mon-El laughed, nodding. “Because I want to be with you, too.”

“Good.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” A huge smile pulled Kara’s lips when Mon-El leaned forward to steal a kiss from her lips. She giggled, putting her hand on his chest, letting herself go in his embrace.

But she still couldn’t help pulling back to look at him intently. Because despite everything, they’d started this crazy journey with her doing his homework and tutoring him, and that was the most important thing for her: his success and happiness.

“I have to say, though,” she started, turning her face into a stern expression. Mon-El feigned fear.

“Oh, no.”

“Just because we’re dating now doesn’t mean you can escape from our tutoring sessions, or you can use your magical touch and kisses to distract me.”

“You think my touch is magical?”

“As long as you’re not using it to get out of doing homework.” She arched her brow. “Promise?”

Mon-El jokingly saluted. “Promise, ma’am.”

“Good.” She smiled and cupped his cheeks. “Good.” She leaned forward to kiss him again, this time without any doubt or hesitation in her mind. She was just happy to be with him, and she knew he felt the same way, and that was the only confirmation she needed.

And, well, if the day ended in Mon-El’s bed, with their clothes thrown around the room… Then she wasn’t complaining about that either.


End file.
